


Center for Diversity in Magical Education in the United States Questionnaire

by Vera (Vera_DragonMuse)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Collaboration, american magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-07-23 21:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16166912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vera_DragonMuse/pseuds/Vera
Summary: If you live in the America, you know that no one school could contain the amazing diversity of disciplines, cultures, identities, and magical development that takes place here. The Center for Diversity in Magical Education is proud to announce that we have finally have enough money to open our own school. Before we begin, we want to ask you about what your magic is like. Read chapter one for more explanation and rules of the project. All following chapters are complete questionnaires.





	1. Welcome to the Center

_You walk into a modest building located off a hidden exit on a long highway. From the outside, it looks like a warehouse. Inside, there’s a small antechamber with a perky elf at the desk. They ask for your name, check it against their list then wave you through massive double doors. The doors open into a huge circular room filled with light and dozens of overlapping voices. Curved tables seat dozens of people, all of them seemingly talking at once. Parchment, pens, laptops, and owls whiz through the air at dizzying speeds. Another tingle of magic alerts you to a translation charm and now you understand all of the people speaking and signing in the room. Or you would if you could pick one person’s voice from the fray._

_One person detaches themselves from the fray. She’s wearing jeans and a t-shirt with something like a cross between a cardigan and a robe over it._

_“Thank you for coming! I’m Sarah. Sorry about the chaos, it’s committee choosing time,” she smiles. “Come with me, we have a quiet room.”_

_She leads you away from the council chamber to cozy room with a big chair and a side table._

_“Welcome to the Center for Diversity in Magical Education in the United States. Please have a seat,” she gestures to the chair. “As you know, we’ve recently come into enough money to finally open our own school. We want to make sure we get it right. We know there will be growing pains, and we will make mistakes, but by asking first we hope to avoid obvious pitfalls._

_“That’s why we need you! We don’t want to abide by the English Standard curriculum in the new school. We want to learn from each other, see what happens when different disciplines are taught in the same place.”_

_She points to a box on the side table beside the chair, “That’s a Box of Needful Things, you’ll find a cup of whatever you like to drink and a plate of whatever you feel like eating in there. Please take your time filling out the questionnaire. I’ll be in the other room when you're done. Please write as much or as little as you want.”_

_She hands you your preferred writing utensils and a list of questions._

_“Thank you again, for doing this. Let me know if you have any questions, I’ll be just outside.”_

So what’s all this? This is for all of us that don’t see ourselves in the English Standard of magic as laid out in the Harry Potter universe. What I’m looking for is what your magic would look like. How would someone from your cultural background practice magic? How would it be taught? Would other factors like your gender affect it? How would the state of the U.S. right now and historically change that? Forget Ilvermony. We want to know about your magic. Make up a character, but please write from your background/identity. Don’t worry if someone else with a similar background has already answered, everyone’s magical POV matters. Once you fill out the questionnaire, I’ll give it a brief once over just for spelling and typos and then it will get posted here as a chapter credited to you (or anon if you prefer). The submission period is open ended. All questionnaires will be posted unless they are obvious attempts at trolling, spam, or contain slurs. Please send any questions: diversityinmagicalschools at gmail dot com. [Click here for the Questionnaire](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSceJqYglsmpT9nrphkmpDG6mDhEHwLumX7kJesXUa9sSQz_XA/viewform?usp=sf_link). Read the next chapter for a sample completed questionnaire.


	2. Submission from Sarah J. Weiss  (creator: dragonmuse)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was submitted by dragonmuse at dragonmuse.tumblr.com

**Name of Magic User**  
Sarah J. Weiss 

**Preferred Pronouns**  
she/her

**Do you have any titles, honorifics, or preferred nicknames? If so, what are they?**  
Dr. Weiss professionally, just Sarah with friends. 

**What do you call, if anything, your magical discipline? (Examples might be: English Standard, Jewish Influenced Potions Based, West Coast Enlightened Non-Verbal or The Portuguese School)**  
Incantations and Runes through Reform Jewish Lens 

**What are the origins of your discipline?**  
Incantations have been a part of the Reform Jewish tradition in America since the beginning. Many of the incantations are traditional Hebrew charms and spells, but some are firmly American, often in a combination of Yiddish and English. Post-World War II, protection spells became a dominate trade as well as therapeutic charms. 

**Where did you grow up?**  
I grew up around New York City. 

**Where do you live currently?**  
For my current consulting job at the Center, I moved closer, but I still go home often. 

**What is your favorite thing about magic?**  
Never having to wash dishes! Kidding, although that is pretty great. I like how it makes me feel closer to the family that came before me. I know that the incantations I recite can be traced back to many times great-grandparents and I find that comforting. 

**What was your magical education like? Were you taught at home, attend part time or full time magical schools?**  
I attended non-magical public school and went to a local magic school on Sundays for a few hours in the morning and on Wednesday nights starting after my Bat Mitzvah. Previous to that, I was unaware magic existed as is traditional in our family. Teaching was supplemented by lessons at home. 

**If you did attend schools, did they adhere to the English Standard curriculum? Were non-magical classes such as History and Math incorporated into your learning experience?**  
The part-time school I attended concentrated on the English Standard curriculum. We would spend a semester concentrating on potions for instance. It was an awkward match to what I was taught at home which was less rigid and did not require wand usage. 

**Did your magical education lend itself to joining a primarily magical or non-magical part of society? Did you follow that path? Why or why not?**  
My magical education seemed to assume we would want to live solely in magical society. To be fair, they probably thought we were getting our non-magical education elsewhere. After attending non-magical college, I decided to merge the two and I now have a firm that consults on educational development in both magical and non-magical environments. I live in a magic user's town, but I still like to go to Target! 

**Did any of your personal experiences change how you practice magic?**  
When I was questioning my sexuality, I found a lot of refuge in the magical community which at the time seemed less judgmental. I'm not sure that I feel it is now, but having that safe place made magic feel more inviting. I also made many good friends in the magical community at that time. I wouldn't have the job I have today if I didn't go through that! 

**What does your ideal magical school look like?**  
I would like to see a school that caters to all students and uses the opportunity to experiment with inter-disciplinary teaching. Magic is a creative thing and we so often stifle it in the name of tradition. Also, I'd like a school with very few animated sections. Moving staircases scared the crud out of me as a kid. 

**What accommodations would be needed to be made to give a student like you the best chance at success?**  
More time for testing and better integration of technology. I'm disgraphic, so you can imagine writing with a quill was no fun! 

**The English Standard curriculum calls for a House system. Our new school will not operate in houses, but we will have a mascot. We also don’t have a name yet (it’s in committee). Please suggest a school name and a mascot if you have any. Any at all.**  
Considering I'm one of the committee members, I won't enter my suggestion here, but seriously, we need them. Naming a school is surprisingly difficult!


	3. Submission from Bethany Olson  (creator: D. Orange)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was submitted by D. Orange. Bethany Olson and they should receive all credit for the response.

**Name of Magic User**  
Bethany Olson

**Preferred Pronouns**  
She/Her/They (because She/her lacks nuance)

**Do you have any titles, honorifics, or preferred nicknames? If so, what are they?**  
Prefers to be called Bae (but knows this is silly)

**What do you call, if anything, your magical discipline? (Examples might be: English Standard, Jewish Influenced Potions Based, West Coast Enlightened Non-Verbal or The Portuguese School)**  
Lake Superior Midwest Collectivism.

**What are the origins of your discipline?**  
Native American (primarily, Ojibwa and Dakota/Lakota in Minnesota, but Illinois, Pottawatomie, Winnebago, Menomini, ), French, and Scandinavian/Germanic. There's been more recent introductions of Somali and Hmong Traditions to the discipline in the last 40 years which has been a source of some tension, but overall has led to greater innovation in magical research and development. 

**Where did you grow up?**  
Minneapolis

**Where do you live currently?**  
Milwaukee

**What is your favorite thing about magic?**  
Combination of nature and magic means that a lot of interesting things are happening around improving water quality and environmental factors. Also, a lot of classes happen outside in the warmer months because natural magic and honestly, winter is way too long. 

**What was your magical education like? Were you taught at home, attend part time or full time magical schools?**  
Most kids spent time in public middle school, junior high, or High school for classes, with a few class hours a week allocated for special study sessions for regional classes. There's kids who go to magical only schools during high school and junior high, but they're considered a bit snobbish. After high school, university is highly recommended and attendance at one of the regional public magical university programs is a source of pride and friendly rivalry between various students and alumni. The main two are University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin which have magical programs. 

**If you did attend schools, did they adhere to the English Standard curriculum? Were non-magical classes such as History and Math incorporated into your learning experience?**  
Non-magical classes were required for state learning standards, so students learn History, Math, Science, English, a language (French, Latin, Greek, Dakota/Lakota/Nakota, and Objibwe are popular in Minnesota), and some kind of music or art (Depending on student preference) in addition to their magical curriculum. 

It's traditionally considered important by the states that students are part of the larger community by using public services like public schools and universities. Investment in education is a public good and a large part of community building between both magical and non-magical populations. Both Minnesota and Wisconsin have tuition reciprocity between their public universities and colleges for all students.

**Did your magical education lend itself to joining a primarily magical or non-magical part of society? Did you follow that path? Why or why not?**  
Non-magical society, but there are many ties to the magical community through shared interest groups and volunteering and continuing education collectives, and now that I live in Wisconsin, TONS of magical bars (God Bless Wisconsin, but don't trash the Packers too badly, some of the bars are less accepting of that).

**Did any of your personal experiences change how you practice magic?**  
Yes, it means I spend a lot of time thinking about ethics and the way that magic can be used in subtle ways to help others, and making sure that the overall good is done. This doesn't work for everyone, but most of us who are products of the public school and university system tend to be a bit more focused on improving the general lot. There's still the kids that double majored in magic and business and then got MBAs. 

**What does your ideal magical school look like?**  
Students are identified in their final years of elementary school no matter what sort of school they attend. Letters go home with students and parents can choose what to do from there. Most choose public school. Each school has a special sort of office/classroom/closet where magical kids go that leads to the classroom in some unnamed central location. There you get one or two classes on whatever magical subject you're taking that term and then go back to regular school for the rest of the day. If your parent doesn't want you to be magically educated, students are not opted out, because it's considered a public safety issue, should the student do something dangerous that would harm many people, unlike opting people out of sex ed, apparently. 

**What accommodations would be needed to be made to give a student like you the best chance at success?**  
Time between classes to change modes from non-magical to magical to non-magical. I have ADHD and a tendency to hyperfocus and then when I had spend passing time switching, I'd get WAY overstimulated and I almost always would miss the first 5 minutes of class mentally because I wasn't all there yet, even though I was present in body.

**The English Standard curriculum calls for a House system. Our new school will not operate in houses, but we will have a mascot. We also don’t have a name yet (it’s in committee). Please suggest a school name and a mascot if you have any. Any at all.**  
Because of the way the U.S. education system is already structured, I have a hard time imagining an overarching school for everyone that isn't heavily regionally based. I think maybe UP Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and part of Ontario is too narrow a location, but having one school for all mid-westerners ignores the differences between the Woodlands mindset vs. prairie, Farm vs. City, Old Northwest states vs. Louisiana purchase states, Mississipi vs. Missouri vs. Ohio and that's not even getting into regional differences in politics.

That being said, in my headcanon, Copper School for the Magical Arts encompasses Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and parts of Ontario (depending on if we're respecting national borders here). Basically, if you share a border with Lake Superior. The mascot is a Mishipeshu which is an underwater lynx indigenous to Lake Superior. Because the only thing more terrifying than a unknowable fresh water inland sea is the fabulous night panther who guards all the copper.


	4. Submission from Dariana Lyubanovich  (creator: Kat R)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was submitted by Kat R or [Kat_the_minion on AO3 ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kat_the_minion/pseuds/Kat_the_minion) and they should receive all credit for the response.

**Name of Magic User**  
Dariana Lyubanovich

**Preferred Pronouns**  
They/them

**Do you have any titles, honorifics, or preferred nicknames? If so, what are they?**  
Dar

**What do you call, if anything, your magical discipline? (Examples might be: English Standard, Jewish Influenced Potions Based, West Coast Enlightened Non-Verbal or The Portuguese School)**  
Slavic Arthimancy and Ancient Runes

**What are the origins of your discipline?**  
Slavic

**Where did you grow up?**  
Midwest/Russia (portkeys)

**Where do you live currently?**  
Madison, Wisconsin 

**What is your favorite thing about magic?**  
The potential

**What was your magical education like? Were you taught at home, attend part time or full time magical schools?**  
Full time magical school

**If you did attend schools, did they adhere to the English Standard curriculum? Were non-magical classes such as History and Math incorporated into your learning experience?**  
Math, sciences, comparative history, tech classes (computer labs), languages

**Did your magical education lend itself to joining a primarily magical or non-magical part of society? Did you follow that path? Why or why not?**  
Both. America is too integrated to pull off hiding an entire culture. Better to blend in. Tended towards magical, but teachers sought ways to show crossovers (chem to potions, bio to Care and Herbology)

**Did any of your personal experiences change how you practice magic?**  
Arithmancy and Ancient tunes run in my family. I knew them before I knew English 

**What does your ideal magical school look like?**  
Day school with ACTs and SATs so finding a job isn't difficult. SATs for magicals stand for Sorcery’s Aptitude Tests and ACTs stand for Accredited Caster’s Tests. Allows to blend in when kids are talking. 

**What accommodations would be needed to be made to give a student like you the best chance at success?**  
Office hours, a study group, and a study room where I could go and not be bothered. Therapy animals. 

**The English Standard curriculum calls for a House system. Our new school will not operate in houses, but we will have a mascot. We also don’t have a name yet (it’s in committee). Please suggest a school name and a mascot if you have any. Any at all.**  
Ruther’s middle school/high school. Mascot; animigus (human to cat)


	5. Submission from Laura (creator: Bookworm4664)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was submitted by [Bookworm4664](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookworm4664/pseuds/Bookworm4664) and they should receive all credit.

**Name of Magic User**  
Laura

**Preferred Pronouns**  
She/her/hers

**What do you call, if anything, your magical discipline? (Examples might be: English Standard, Jewish Influenced Potions Based, West Coast Enlightened Non-Verbal or The Portuguese School)**  
Probably mostly English Standard with a hearty dose of Yiddish spells and Puerto Rican potions

**What are the origins of your discipline?**  
New York City

**Where did you grow up?**  
Suburban northern New Jersey 

**Where do you live currently?**  
New England

**What is your favorite thing about magic?**  
Potential only limited by one's imagination

**What was your magical education like? Were you taught at home, attend part time or full time magical schools?**  
Local magical public regional school, with mostly the white kids in my area. Magic is as segregated as everything else in NJ. 

I spent a lot of time with my friends geeking out about less-focused-on subjects like runes. Runes are languages and also you can prep them ahead of time and build them up for some very nifty work. Not great in a duel but awesome for more complex work. 

**If you did attend schools, did they adhere to the English Standard curriculum? Were non-magical classes such as History and Math incorporated into your learning experience?**  
8 period day with half English Standard classes and half non-magical classes, from sixth through twelfth grades. Too many parents freaked at the idea of their kids not also passing the SAT. 

**Did your magical education lend itself to joining a primarily magical or non-magical part of society? Did you follow that path? Why or why not?**  
I'm fifty-fifty right now, which seems on par with how I was trained. Obviously most of the media I consume is magically-oriented--once you can think of how magic would change the outcomes, it's hard to watch non-magical shows again. 

Looking into non-magical education training options because we have got to revamp our schools and the way we teach magic, and there's a lot to be learned from those who have spent time developing alternate educational methods. 

**Did any of your personal experiences change how you practice magic?**  
Yes. I mean, my parents grew up poor and with non-English Standard backgrounds, and that meant that I didn't always do things the same way as the other white middle class kids from Italian or Irish families in my area. My grandmother taught me to make some potions, and my mother combines magical and non-magical methods sometimes (she'll put a moving photo in the freezer to cool a relationship for example and it always seems to work). Some of the earliest spells I tried were in Yiddish or Spanish, although I don't really speak either aside from a handful of spells today. 

My family's decision to leave the Catholic Church was overall right for us but also meant I didn't continue to learn some of the spells in CCD for certain rituals either. 

**What does your ideal magical school look like?**  
I want magical teaching to start sooner and in more play-based, project- and place-oriented ways. So I guess mine would be similar to my education in terms of time spent on magic but without paying attention to English Standard and with more emphasis on the types of magic practiced around us and throughout the US.

**What accommodations would be needed to be made to give a student like you the best chance at success?**  
I would need time to learn at my own pace and with a competency framework. I don't care what spells my friend has mastered (unless they want to teach me--yes please!) but I do want to be graded against my own progress in each discipline. 

**The English Standard curriculum calls for a House system. Our new school will not operate in houses, but we will have a mascot. We also don’t have a name yet (it’s in committee). Please suggest a school name and a mascot if you have any. Any at all.**  
Bubbly the Cauldron is the mascot


	6. Submission from Adelaine Burke  (creator: Sarah)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This submission comes from Sarah, who can be found at White_Lynx on AO3 and alina744 on Tumblr. All credit should go to them.

**Name of Magic User**  
Adelaine Burke

**Preferred Pronouns**  
She/her

**Do you have any titles, honorifics, or preferred nicknames? If so, what are they?**  
Della

**What do you call, if anything, your magical discipline? (Examples might be: English Standard, Jewish Influenced Potions Based, West Coast Enlightened Non-Verbal or The Portuguese School)**  
Expert Dark Arts Defense, Expert Charms, Expert No-Maj Technologies

**What are the origins of your discipline?**  
Early exposure to No-Maj devices and technology, avid interest in spellwork and fighting off bullies with hexes.

**Where did you grow up?**  
Boston, MA

**Where do you live currently?**  
Boston, MA

**What is your favorite thing about magic?**  
The ability to solve issues/fix items with precision, granted even the simplest spell makes it possible

**What was your magical education like? Were you taught at home, attend part time or full time magical schools?**  
Full-time career at Ilvermony with refresher courses at home

**If you did attend schools, did they adhere to the English Standard curriculum? Were non-magical classes such as History and Math incorporated into your learning experience?**  
I believe both are true

**Did your magical education lend itself to joining a primarily magical or non-magical part of society? Did you follow that path? Why or why not?**  
They did, primarily in understanding that both can be blended or at least understood so long as the teacher/student do so responsibly.

**Did any of your personal experiences change how you practice magic?**  
Constantly, be it to fix items, deal with bullies or suspects on a daily basis, often while under pressure.

**What does your ideal magical school look like?**  
A repurposed mansion house that's gated but close enough to modern society that both sides are visible to an extent. Proof that both sides are much closer than the Europeans like to believe.

**What accommodations would be needed to be made to give a student like you the best chance at success?**  
AP and remedial classes, English-as-a-second-language courses for exchange students and other programs advocating musical and artistic talent, all based on a student's needs/interests throughout their time attending school. Financial aid to any with insufficient income, and no 'pure-blood' nonsense. We're here to learn, not get cursed by angry, older wizards with nothing better to do.

**The English Standard curriculum calls for a House system. Our new school will not operate in houses, but we will have a mascot. We also don’t have a name yet (it’s in committee). Please suggest a school name and a mascot if you have any. Any at all.**  
I recommend a wolf or some kind of bird known for working in tandem with others be it their species or not. Solidarity yet harmony when in crisis or simply because it's only right. We're all in this together.


	7. Submission from Usha Sivavidhya (creator: Ru)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was submitted by Ru at ravels on ao3.

**Name of Magic User**  
Usha Sivavidhya

**Preferred Pronouns**  
Any pronouns

**Do you have any titles, honorifics, or preferred nicknames? If so, what are they?**  
None

**What do you call, if anything, your magical discipline? (Examples might be: English Standard, Jewish Influenced Potions Based, West Coast Enlightened Non-Verbal or The Portuguese School)**  
Tamil Indian Classical, charm-based and wandless; Midwestern Eurocentric

**What are the origins of your discipline?**  
Indian classical thought has long been secular, and religion was an aspect of life separate from the sciences. Since magic was able to be manipulated by humans, it could not be associated with religious life, and magic came to be treated as a science. However, since it is by far the most human science, there is a measure of creativity and an eye for beauty. Thus, Tamil Indian classical magic is analytical and scientific, but also very human and beautiful. Meanwhile, my Midwestern Eurocentric education was from primary magical educators at a preschool in Cincinnati, who taught me according to the English standard of magical education.

**Where did you grow up?**  
Cincinnati, OH

**Where do you live currently?**  
Cincinnati, OH

**What is your favorite thing about magic?**  
I think being able to be in control of magic is a very empowering feeling and understanding the magic you produce is even more so.

**What was your magical education like? Were you taught at home, attend part time or full time magical schools?**  
Magic has long been a part of my life. Since the Indian magical community abandoned the Statute of Secrecy in 1950 in defiance against our British oppressors, my parents saw no issue in teaching me wandless magic at home in elementary school. In preschool, I learned magic from the rounded curriculum, but I found that it did not work for me nearly as well as my ethnic, wandless magic did. After that, I attended public school for several years, learning magic from my parents and from a tutor.

**If you did attend schools, did they adhere to the English Standard curriculum? Were non-magical classes such as History and Math incorporated into your learning experience?**  
My preschool did, but after that, my parents’ disdain for British-centric education pulled me out of any English Standard school. My tutor throughout public school, who had several other students, doubled as a math tutor and a science tutor, which benefited our understanding of the mechanics of magic.

**Did your magical education lend itself to joining a primarily magical or non-magical part of society? Did you follow that path? Why or why not?**  
Through my classmates with my tutor, I had a somewhat magical life, but since wandless magic is so much more subtle than magic with a wand, I was always able to conceal it and hang out with my non-magical public school friends. It was just a skill— it didn’t need to be my whole life.

**Did any of your personal experiences change how you practice magic?**  
The first time I heard the magic in my mother’s voice and learned what I had the potential to be, it completely erased any feeling of obligation to continue practicing magic with a wand. Compared to my birthright magic, wand magic felt so clunky and awkward from then on.

**What does your ideal magical school look like?**  
Small classes after school in an urban, central location. The emphasis should be placed on allowing magical students to operate fluently in both magical and nonmagical contexts, so it should be in an area of high nonmagical traffic but with some charm to discourage nonmagical people from entering. The whole school uses a combination of nonmagical and magical technology. The only mandatory classes are integrated classes such as History, Chemistry (Potions), and Math, which combine magical and non-magical thought and resources. Students that are poor at subjects like Divination should not have to take them. The emphasis should be on building the skills that students already have, so classes in wandless magic should be available.

**What accommodations would be needed to be made to give a student like you the best chance at success?**  
Classes in subjects that I am willing to learn— I should not have to take a wand magic class if I know plain and simple that wand magic does not work for me. Teachers also have to be available by nonmagical methods of communication, and classes should be based on discussion and practical application rather than reading and lecture.

**The English Standard curriculum calls for a House system. Our new school will not operate in houses, but we will have a mascot. We also don’t have a name yet (it’s in committee). Please suggest a school name and a mascot if you have any. Any at all.**  
‘Murican Mothmen


End file.
